County to pick up tab for Market Days insurance

The Mathews County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to provide $1,148 to pay for liability insurance for vendors during this year’s Mathews Market Days, which will be held Sept. 6 and 7 in Mathews Court House.

During Tuesday’s meeting in the historic courthouse, Sandy Smith of Port Haywood, told board members that she and other members of the Market Days Committee had learned from Mathews County Administrator Mindy Moran in April that the yearly festival would have to begin providing its own insurance.

Smith said that the cost of insurance through the Virginia Municipal Program would be $2,500 a year if individual vendors didn’t provide their own insurance certificates and $1,700 a year if they did. Diggs Insurance of Mathews could provide less expensive event insurance because of a relationship with the provider, said Smith, but it would leave Market Days committee members vulnerable because the festival is not incorporated.

She said the committee is considering incorporation, but would need help with insurance costs this year.